Suffolk Downs executives are trying to move on after severing ties with Caesars Entertainment. At their suitability hearing with the Massachusetts Gaming Commission (which is expected to approve them), they played dumb. They not only pleaded ignorance of Arik Kislin‘s dubious business ties, they claimed ignorance of the Terrance K. Watanabe scandal. The latter not only made national headlines, it earned Caesars a $225,000 fine in New Jersey, even though the events in question took place on the Strip.
Suffolk Downs is also sticking to revenue projections of $1 billion/year, of which Boston mayoral candidate Bill Walczak scoffingly said, “This casino will have to clear more revenue than any casino in the Western Hemisphere.” Be that as it may, voters will almost certainly have to vote on Suffolk Downs without knowing who will be running its casino. Whomever it turns out to be will be bound to terms already agreed to by Caesars, whether they like it or not. Opponents, meanwhile, are taking a premature victory lap. Hell, they can’t even spell “Caesar’s [sic!]” correctly.
Kislin, meanwhile, is causing trouble as far away as obscure Cripple Creek, Colorado. There, he was trying to obtain a license to invest in Big Jim’s Gambling Hall & Saloon. Not so fast, say regulators. Strangely, casino manager James Druck says he had never spoken with nor met Kislin, even though the latter had lent money to the casino. (It’s amazing how many people get in bed with this guy without so much as a ‘hello.’)
“The German court documents referenced in some media reports never mention Arik Kislin and never linked him to any criminal activity, and other reports are decades old, stemming from a time when Arik Kislin was in his early 20s and did business with individuals in the former Soviet Union,” said his spokesman.
Caesars Entertainment’s 3Q13 conference call with analysts brought some predictable huffing and puffing from CEO Gary Loveman. Never 
mind that Suffolk Downs pushed Caesars under the bus or that Loveman dropped Gansevoort Hotel Group like a bad habit after things went sideways in Massachusetts. Loveman focused all his wrath on Bay State regulators, complaining that he never had a chance to make things right with them. (Not that Suffolk owner Richard Fields gave him much choice in the matter.) In spite of the sky-high revenue projections made by Caesars for the casino, Loveman said, “We have turned our focus back to our ongoing development and repositioning efforts, which are greater catalysts for enhancing the company’s performance.” [emphasis added] Yeah, Baltimore‘s gonna turn it all around.
As Caesars totters from crisis to problem, the Internal Revenue Service made public its citation of the company, include Bank Secrecy Act violations. FinCen executive Jennifer Shaskey Calvery painted the citation as part of a wider war being fought by casinos’ compliance divisions, telling Bloomberg News “that executives in charge of regulatory compliance are being overruled by officials in other departments.” Even without the IRS probe, Caesars is a mess and it’s long past time for Loveman to resign in favor of someone who can put its house in order.
Loveman must be funded by the Obama administration to still have his job.